Towing

Chevrolet and GMC have made their 1500 pickups J2807 compliant already, but not their HD pickups. Ford has promised that its new 2015 F-150 will be tested according to the standard. Meanwhile, Toyota’s Tundra has been compliant for some time.

RAM

Sharp-eyed photographers spotted this little test mule running around in Michigan. Several journalists note that it looks like Fiat Strada beneath all that cladding, which could mean that Ram is looking at doing the same thing with the Strada that it did with the Ducato (ProMaster van, anyone?)

So what does a Strada look like under normal conditions? Like this:

FORD

It’s worth pointing out that the comparison Ford set up for the press compared a 2014 F-150 with the 5.0L V8 with a 2015 F-150 with the new 2.7L EcoBoost V6, but it’s still quite a bit of weight savings.

Also noteworthy is that Ford says that new little EcoBoost engine will make 325 horsepower and 375 pound-feet of torque.

Here’s a video Ford made where it set up some towing drag races between the F-150, Ram’s EcoDiesel and Chevrolet’s 5.3L V8.

Two more things: it’s pretty much official that Ford’s 6.2L V8 will no longer be available for the F-150, so if Ford’s Raptor will continue past 2014, it might have some special plans for a big engine up its sleeve. Also, a global Ford Ranger was spotted doing some test driving in Colorado, so maybe Ford is trying to be ready to compete with GM if the new little trucks prove popular.

Chevrolet/GMC

The 2.5L inline four will make 200 horsepower and 191 pound-feet of torque, while the 3.6L V6 will make 305 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque.

Official numbers on the 2.8L Duramax diesel that will come with 2016 Canyon/Colorado pickups are still unavailable. There’s all sorts of rumors and speculation on how much power it’ll have, but we’ll just have to wait.

And if you want to see how big these trucks are, here’s a GMC Canyon next to a Ram 1500.

It’s time we went through what’s going on in the truck industry lately. Here’s what’s happening with trucks.

Nissan

The big news from Nissan just this morning was its hint via Instagram of its new pickup, which it says will be revealed June 11.

Jalopnik has more analysis of this news. I wonder if this might be the new Frontier, and if it could have that diesel I4 that they teased earlier this year.

Toyota

Toyota dropped some big news about its American operations last month: It’s moving lots of jobs to Plano, Texas. Toyota already makes its Tundra pickup near San Antonio, but now its headquarters will be in the state too.

Also, remember that Power Wagon Ram revealed earlier this year? Some complained that it got a big gas engine instead of a Cummins diesel. Here’s why Ram took the gasser route.

Ford

The Blue Oval sold its 500,000 F-150 with an EcoBoost engine in May. Starting this fall, Ford will offer two different EcoBoost V6 engines in its aluminum-bodied F-150, and it will be interesting to see how those engines perform.

Ford is releasing more information about its new F-150 and they are doing everything they can to show customers how strong and durable their aluminum-bodied trucks can be. For example, they announced last week that they had sent a few prototype aluminum-bedded trucks to a few customers for some undercover testing back in 2011. And here’s a collection of torture-test videos with the F-150.

Also, Ford just released this video about the assembly process going into its new pickups:

There have been plenty of stories about all the steps Ford has taken in planning this process out. For example, it’s doing a new recycling plan that’s supposed to save it $125 on each one of these new F-150s.

Ford knows that a lot of customers are skeptical about these new aluminum-bodied F-150s and has been putting a lot of effort into showing how much testing and abuse it’s been throwing at them. Check out this video, for example:

Ford got some especially good luck recently when TV host Jimmy Fallon chose its F-150 King Ranch pickup on his program after discussing the issue on several episodes. He even had a little competition to decide which Ford salesperson would get to sell him the new truck. The winner was an Illinois dealer.

The automotive media is abuzz thanks to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. While there are some pretty cars being revealed at the show, a big component of the excitement comes from two new pickups that were unveiled in the past 24 hours: the 2015 Ford F-150 and the 2015 GMC Canyon.

Here are what several news outlets are saying about these new vehicles:

Copyright General Motors Corp.

The return of the GMC Canyon

General Motors pulled the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon after the 2012 model year due to disappointing sales. The returning Colorado appeared late last year, and now the GMC Canyon is back too.

Before the unveiling, GMC did a fair amount of teasing on social media, including these shots:

“Both the Colorado and Canyon are nice little trucks. They feel tiny if you move into one straight out of a Silverado or Suburban, but would more than fulfill the pickup needs of many consumers.”

It’s been interesting to watch the differing strategies of the different truck makers. General Motors is going with the “three-truck strategy,” by making it so customers have trucks of three different sizes available from each brand. Who doesn’t enjoy choice?

I do wonder if there’s enough market available for selling these smaller trucks. This Wall Street Journal article pointed out the midsize pickups accounted for only 1.7 percent of all U.S. auto sales last year.

USA Today points out that this new truck’s electronic package includes a Teen Driver mode that lets parents set speed limits and gives a “report card” of broken laws and misbehavior.

Copyright Ford Motor Co.

The 13th-generation Ford F-150

As everyone is reporting, this truck made big news with its weight savings brought about through the use of aluminum in the body panels instead of rolled steel.

The rumor mill on this issue has been running for months, with countless stories quoting anonymous sources leaking bits and pieces about the new body material.

Most recently, Automotive News published this piece pointing out that the US Postal Service’s delivery vehicles have had aluminum bodies since 1987, and have been working out pretty well (Don’t miss the clever GIF video) Also, just before the reveal, MotorTrend magazine had a little fun by claiming to have an image of the new truck before anyone else:

“See, steel has a melting temperature between 2600°F and 2800°F, while aluminum melts at a much cooler 1220°F. Many types of lava flows can reach temperatures of over 1750°F, no problem for steel, while causing aluminum frames to turn into glimmering custard.”

MotorTrend says SuperCrew F-150s will have the most weight savings, at about 700 pounds each, because they had the most steel to replace. Regular cab pickups will shed 500 pounds or so.

“Ford is using 5000- and 6000-series sheet — the numbers indicate the particular alloys — supplied by Alcoa and Novelis. These alloys are popular with automakers because they are easy to form, rugged and, in the case of 6000, provide the smooth ‘class A’ surfaces required for visible panels like fenders.”

Automotive News shared a nice bit of detail about that new smaller EcoBoost engine, which uses special materials and designs that are beyond my ability to explain, so I’ll just quote the story:

“The two-piece block has compact graphite iron on the upper section, while the lower half is made from die-cast aluminum.

“‘We used iron only where we need the strength, which is in the main bulkhead,’ said Bob Fascetti Ford’s vice president of powertrain engineering. ‘This whole thing, including the [bearing] caps are cast together,’ he said.”

I grew up working at my dad’s full-service gas station. I stocked pop when I was six, pumped gas when I was 8, changed tires when I was 12 and changed oil starting at 14.

For those early years, gas seemed to bounce around the buck-a-gallon mark, hitting about $1.20 or so in the winter and dropping to the mid-to-high .90s in summertime. Those were good times, and no one ever worried about fuel economy all that much. They drove giant pickups and massive sedans up to the pump, told me to “Fill ‘er up,” and then paid their bills.

Customers with a tighter budget would hand me a $5 bill and get just that much gas — and then they could actually get somewhere and make it back with that much fuel.

I have a clear memory of one summer day the history teacher at the middle school came by for gas and pointed at our sign, which said 87-octane unleaded gas was for sale at 88.9 cents per gallon.

“See that, Logan?” he said. “Mark my words. You will never see gas that cheap ever again.”

He was right.

A few years later, I bought my first car right before I turned 14 (you read that right) and, not-so-lucky for me, gas prices started going up right about that time. I remember paying $1.80 a gallon that summer to fill my tank and feeling like I was getting robbed.

Each year after that, gas prices got even higher. My dad had to get a new gas-price sign because the old one didn’t even have a “2” for the dollar amount. We had to be careful to run the gas pumps at their slowest setting because running them at full tilt would push the mechanical computers inside to spin so fast we were scared the gears would break.

Fourteen years later, I’m paying $3.60 a gallon at the pump and grateful I’m not paying $4 or more. What I’d give to see a pump charging $1.80 a gallon.

But the rise in gas prices has led to a sea change in automotive design. I never saw pickups advertise their fuel economy figures when I was a kid, but today you’ll see every automaker touting their improved fuel economy numbers with their trucks. You’re also seeing a lot of R&D going into better diesel engines, hybrid powerplants and alternative fuels.

It’s easy to be wowed by each bump in mileage for tiny little cars, but pay close attention to the improvements coming in new pickup models. The gains made in those numbers will really save a remarkable amount of fuel.

Imagine two vehicles that have to make a 1,000-mile trip: a coupe that gets 35 mpg, and a pickup that gets 18 mpg. If you boost the coupe’s fuel economy to 37 mpg, it’ll save 1.5 gallons. But if you boost that pickup to 20 mpg, it’ll save 5.5 gallons of gas for that trip.

Now add up those kinds of numbers and consider the number of miles those vehicles will travel in their lifetimes.

There are some cool ideas coming out of our automakers, and with demand for fuel efficiency likely to keep growing, I expect they’ll keep improving.

My first truck was a gas hog – it got maybe 14 miles per gallon on a perfect day but was more like 8 mpg in winter. The one fuel-economy fix that did work with that truck was when I left it parked and ran my errands by bicycle. I’d tell you the mpg I got then, but I’d have to divide by zero.

My second truck does a much better job. It’s 12 years newer than my first pickup, has a bigger engine displacement and weighs about 2,000 pounds more. But it gets much better mileage. I get about 14.5 mpg on average, and in perfect weather, I’ve broken 20 mpg.

This happens because my current truck has a decade more of research and development in it compared to my first one. It’s got a newer design and variable cam timing.

A 1997 study by a pair of students at Western New England College found that adding a tonneau to a pickup cut its coefficient of drag by close to 12 percent. A 2007 SEMA study also found that tonneau covers make pickups more efficient.

To get an idea of how much a tonneau cover can save you on fuel, check out this calculator. According to this calculator, my cover is saving me more than $200 in gas each year.

I was curious about whether the tonneau made such a difference, so I removed it and drove around without it for a few weeks earlier this year, and the decision cost me. My fuel economy dropped nearly a whole 1 mpg. I was glad to get a tonneau back on that truck right away.

Have you tried a tonneau cover and noticed a change in fuel economy? Let us know in the comments.